Labour urged to greenlight Britain's biggest untapped oil field: 'Invest in Britain's future!'

Approving work at Britain’s largest untapped oil field would bring billions into the economy and support skilled jobs for years, energy bosses say.

The Rosebank oil field, north west of Shetland, contains an estimated 300 million barrels of oil. But, while in opposition, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said exploiting the field was “climate vandalism”.

Work was later stopped after a legal challenge on climate grounds. The Government will now have the final say as to whether drilling can proceed.

Mr Burnham, who is expected to take over as prime minister on Monday, has said reindustrialisation will play a key part in his economic vision. Campaigners who brought the legal challenge say that the decision on Rosebank will be “the defining test of the Burnham government’s credibility on climate”.

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A public consultation into the field is underway, with energy bosses insisting approval will stimulate growth, create jobs and improve energy security. Work should also restart at Jackdaw, a giant gas field where drilling has also been halted through legal issues, Neil McCulloch, the chief executive of Adura, said.

Adura wants to develop both fields and Mr McCulloch said that “timely consent” for both would “deliver the greatest benefit for the UK”. Adura said the Rosebank project would lead to £8.7billion of investment, with Mr McCulloch stressing its “national scale and significance”.

Together with the Jackdaw development, he said it could help support a “nationally significant programme of reindustrialisation” for the UK “stimulating economic growth, sustaining thousands of jobs and apprenticeships, and providing substantial revenues to fund public services”. With a consultation having recently started on developing the Jackdaw gas field, Adura said the two projects combined would bring £10.8 billion of investment – with over three quarters of that in the UK.

Over their lifetimes, Rosebank and Jackdaw could generate up to £28.7billion in economic activity in the UK, Adura added, supporting more than 3,500 jobs at the peak of construction, with 880 positions throughout the entirety of the work. If given the go-ahead, the two projects could, at their peak, provide about 10 per cent of the UK’s domestic natural gas production, with Rosebank also expected to produce approximately 69,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak – the equivalent of about 10 per cent of anticipated UK Continental Shelf oil output.

With total UK oil production projected to fall to approximately 420,000 barrels per day by 2030, Adura said that Rosebank is large enough to slow the decline in domestic production by several years. Speaking as the consultation, which will run until August 17, commenced, Mr McCulloch said "Rosebank is a project of national scale and significance".

He added: “It represents an anticipated investment of £8.7billion and has the potential to support businesses, skilled workers and communities across the UK for many years to come. We welcome the opening of public consultation and would encourage everyone who wants to see Britain strengthen its energy security, create high-quality jobs and support its world-class energy supply chain to make their voice heard in support of this endeavour.

“The scale of the supply-chain opportunity is particularly significant. From Shetland to Southend, businesses across the UK are already contributing their skills and expertise to delivering Rosebank and Jackdaw.

“Rosebank and Jackdaw can be part of a nationally significant programme of reindustrialisation, stimulating economic growth, sustaining thousands of jobs and apprenticeships, and providing substantial revenues to fund public services. Together, they can provide around 10% of the UK’s domestic gas production, while Rosebank alone can contribute approximately 10 per cent of UK Continental Shelf oil output.

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“Rosebank can also help increase the availability of refined products such as jet fuel and slow the decline in UK oil production by several years. Timely consent for both Rosebank and Jackdaw is the way to deliver the greatest benefit for the UK – supporting domestic energy production, unlocking billions of pounds of economic activity and giving supply-chain businesses the confidence to invest in their people and our industrial future.”

Tessa Khan, Executive Director at Uplift, which won the legal case against Rosebank in 2025, said: “Rosebank is the defining test of the Burnham government’s credibility on climate. It must choose: protect oil company profits, or protect people from soaring bills and a worsening climate crisis.”

Ms Khan claimed recent heatwaves showed the importance of tackling climate change. She said: “The science is clear: the world already has far more oil and gas than can be burnt safely if we are to maintain a liveable climate for ourselves and our children.

“We are through the looking glass if we’re even considering drilling on the scale of Rosebank when we are already seeing the impacts of climate change, with parts of this country literally on fire.”

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